Last year, Alicia Johnson, MSN, RN, NP, helped grant a patient’s wish for a holiday celebration with family with the help of local wish-granting organization Fill Your Bucket List Foundation. Johnson, a nurse practitioner and navigator with gynecology/oncology at Duke Raleigh Hospital Women’s Cancer Center, was so moved by her experience that she decided she had to get more involved.
“In our profession, we can experience feelings of helplessness, when we can’t change clinical outcomes for our patients,” Johnson said. “But, we can help provide them hope, and through my volunteer experience, I’m able to help provide some hope and happiness to many patients.”
Now, Johnson spends her free time as a “wish creator” with the organization, helping plan trips and experiences for the patients who receive the foundation’s help. Her perspective as a provider caring for patients with cancer brings a personal touch to her volunteer work with the organization.
“I feel that I have a unique ability to understand the clinical and emotional perspective of the cancer patients we’re helping,” she said.
Johnson helps adults with cancer throughout the state experience their favorite places with family and friends, or go somewhere they’ve never been before. The accommodations, travel, and meals are all covered by the organization.
“The wish granting gives a little sunshine back to the lives of patients going through a very tough diagnosis and treatment,” she said. “Seeing smiling faces in the photos of patients going on their trips has been so amazing and personally rewarding for me too.”
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